Random randomness | a dead dishwasher,
I have a bunch of unrelated things to tell you. So randomness it is!
My dishwasher is currently dead.
It mysteriously stopped mid-cycle a few nights back, which is a bummer.
I did not feel like messing with it, but Mr. FG took the control panel apart, found a fuse that looked to be blown, and ordered one from Amazon.
So when it arrives tomorrow, hopefully we will be back in business.
The good thing is, the dishwasher is really the least inconvenient appliance to lose for a few days. Washing machine, dryer, freezer, fridge, stove, hot water heater..all of those are way worse!
Washing dishes by hand is not that big of a deal.
(Not to sound like I'm ancient or anything, but I clearly remember a time in my childhood when we washed all of our dishes by hand. And it was ok!)
I have to re-submit all my out-of-network bills.
In the continuing saga of out-of-network bills:
We accidentally filled something out wrong, which meant Cigna sent the payment to the provider instead of to us.
I called to inquire about this, and for reasons I don't completely understand, the provider can't just cash the check and credit the amount to us; I have to resubmit the bills, then they have to issue stop payments on the checks, and then they can issue checks to us.
It's a very good thing I wasn't counting on that money to pay any pressing bills because my goodness, this is a long process, made longer by my error.
But I will prevail. Dollars are at stake here! I will win!
Note to self: stay in network if at all possible.
Also, remember to be grateful for billing professionals who handle this for me most of the time.
Also also: never go into medical billing as a career.
I'm roasting beef bones.
I took 'em all out of the freezer and they are currently roasting in my oven in preparation for stock-making.
My girls are less than pleased about the aroma of beef in the morning, and I have to say, it's not my favorite smell either.
But hey, I am not about to waste the opportunity to make broth from local grass-fed beef bones. If my house has to smell like beef for a day, so be it.
Sonia's got some little guys in her shop.
Three otters and a bunny, to be exact.
We will ship purchases out promptly so that you get them in time for Christmas!
Here's the link to Sonia's shop.
I should not have washed my Christmas stockings.
Zoe and I were getting them out of storage and she noticed a few were pretty dirty. So, we threw them in the washer on the gentle cycle.
But apparently, some of the embellishments were glued, not sewn, and most of the pieces of this snowman came off the stocking.
Old glue doesn't hold up well in the washer, apparently, even on gentle.
Sonia's stocking needed some help too, but happily, both stockings are fine after some hand-sewing.
I just will remember not to machine wash them in the future!
__________________
And that concludes today's randomness. Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!
I second your “thank goodness for medical billing folks!” It isn’t actually kind of shocking to me that medical offices evolved in this way. I feel like they would be perfectly within their rights to say to patients: “you pay me and sort out your own health insurance.” Instead they spend hundreds of thousands every year to process claims. But I guess if they didn’t they wouldn’t get paid as much (or at all), so win win?
* is, not “isn’t”
My equivalent of your "broken dishwasher isn't so bad, relatively speaking" is the painters. They did a stunningly poor job. But of all the contractors I used while renovating - builders, plumbers, electricians, etc - I'm grateful that it was the painters who were subpar.
You know that I feel your pain about insurance billing problems. Yesterday I faxed about 30 pages to my insurance company. Good luck!
I love how medical insurance companies still use faxing. WHYYYYYYY.
From the BBC last week
"NHS told to ditch 'absurd' fax machines"
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46497526
Faxing is way more secure than sending those types of details over e-mail. That paperwork can often contain personal information that you don't want in the wrong hands. I work in a company that has mostly international customers and several time our e-mails have been intercepted and banking information changed (this last time was in Canada). The customer thinks they are corresponding with us and sends their money to the wrong bank. That account immediately gets closed out and the funds are lost forever. We no longer send secure information via e-mail.
Secure email is something that all organisations should provide to customers if you are expecting them to send you sensitive data. It's not that difficult to arrange and it means that a regular person can send securely, using the application of the organisation.
Doctors/health in particular have preferences for fax because they work, and a physical document arrives. It can also be seen as a business continuity plan for when the electronics go down. As they did when the NHS was hacked a while ago. Funnily enough the older staff were fine with paper and pen, the young people struggled!
Added to that, some systems are either enormously costly to replace (imaging equipment), or preferred for security reasons, like US missile defence.
On the dishwasher point, I once fixed my washing machine by checking online plumbing specs and ordering a part and I felt like Wonder Woman for at least three years! Good luck with the dishwasher
We always had a dishwasher growing up (I’m 41), but my first home on my own had an original 1930s kitchen with no DW. We actually just got a new dishwasher at our current house last week! It was a few months without one, but like you said it’s definitely not the worst appliance to have to go without.
Sonia’s creations are adorable!
Agh, insurance. I'm filing a request for yet another review, this time by mail. I've asked six reps for the reasoning behind the payment/non-payment they made, and I've had six different answers. One last try, here.
My dishwasher is finally back up and running after waiting two months and trying to find out what could be taking the part so long to get to the warranty service people. I finally called the manufacturer again, and told them the problem. They had the part at my house in four days. I should have called earlier! I agree, the dishwasher is not the worst appliance to break, but the extra time it took me to wash the entire day's dishes plus my packed lunch dishes by hand after a nine-hour work day and an hour-each-way commute was killing me by keeping me from getting to bed on time. I am thrilled to have it back!
Of course, I've only had my replacement stove for less than a month. Being without the stove and the dishwasher both was awful.
The little otters are adorable, as is that sweet bunny!
We finally bought a tree this weekend. It isn't up, yet, but at least it's at my house, in a bucket of water.
I have to laugh at myself. When you said "should have not washed my Christmas stockings", I had this crazy thought that you meant some kind of Christmas-y dress socks or even colorful hose. We haven't hung stockings at our house in many years, so that wasn't the first place my mind went. Still, I find it funny that I didn't even think of the kind you hang by the chimney with care until I scrolled on down.
Whoa, two months is a long time to be without your dishwasher. I'm glad it's back up and running now!
That’s one of the things that made the Instant Pot SUPER appealing to me. I made beef broth yesterday and didn’t smell it AT ALL until after it was done cooking. I used to make it in the crock pot outside because I couldn’t handle the smell in the house all day!
Agree...I hate cooking beef like that inside. Stinks up the house and my hair. Love the InstantPot for hands off cooking of soups and whatever else I throw in that thing.
I also cook my rice in the rice cooker outside on my covered porch so my house doesn't smell like a Chinese restaurant.
We don't have a dishwasher. All the dishes for 3 people and assorted visitors are done by hand. The person who didn't cook does the dishes and our daughter dries.
People generally treat this confession as though I've shared that we don't have indoor plumbing!
(We do have indoor plumbing, by the way.)
I have a small kitchen, which is part of the reason why there is no dishwasher. Because I don't have a lot of space I generally only have one of a lot of things--one spatula, one big mixing bowl, etc. When I'm cooking I wash things as I go because I often have to reuse them. Do those of you with dishwashers have more dishes and utensils or do you do the same? I admit I hate the idea of sacrificing a cupboard for dishwasher space if I'm going to be washing most things by hand anyway.
I have almost obscene amounts of storage in my kitchen, and multiples of most manual things (spatulae, bowls, etc), and I still often wash something as I cook.
We have an insane amount of dishes every day (why o why, we're only 4!) and despite having a dishwasher that came with the house, we hand wash. Never used the dishwasher, never will.
Well, don't get rid of it even if you don't use it now. When I got the c.diff infection that is easily passed on, and kills over 40,000 Americans a year, we were advised not only to use the dishwasher on its longest cycle, but to add vinegar to the rinse cycle. We were trying not to give it to my husband. If we had not had a dishwasher, we would have purchased one. (Also, I was too ill to help with chores so anything that made my husband's life easier we were thankful to have.)
Ahah, I must be ancient then (just 38 btw) because I have a dishwasher that came with the house but we don't use it at all and hand wash all the way! Actually, we do use it: as storage space!
I have a dishwasher and every day I use it I always have it in the back of my mind that today may be the day it dies. It's 16 years old and I honestly don't love it. It has none of the fancy electronics on it of the new ones which is probably why it keeps on trucking.
Per the medical billing stuff, all I can say is that I'm so glad that I'm not going to be dealing with Cigna in a couple weeks.
I made the mistake of washing my Christmas stocking a few years ago. It is the same stocking my mother made for me when I was a baby and having my first Christmas at 5 months old. I hand washed it in cold but the red felt ran into the white stocking and the white part not affected never really got brighter so it was a dumb idea all together. I still hang it up every year. This year one of my kittens was playing American Ninja Warrior Kitty and somehow leapt onto the wall (from where, I do not know) and tore it down when I was at work. She tried to chew off parts but I think its (mostly) fixable. Ah, kittens.
I was out of a dishwasher 16 months! When the old one broke, I found out the previous homeowner had DIY-ed the plumbing all crazy and so I had to save up to get the plumbing moved in order to get the new one in. It's nice to have but I could survive without one if I had to.
I am one that can not be without a dishwasher. There are only 3 of us, but if I am home during the day it gets run twice. I make sure to run just s vinegar wash frequently to keep it running well. We are fortunate that we have a huge appliance center here. They have a scratch and dent area where appliances are returned for reasons. My dryer I bought there the light was not working so I got a Whirlpool dryer for $200. Still running well after 15yrs.
Yep, I can relate. My stove died 2days ago. The board to fix it arrived today so hopefully that will work. Last week, my refrigerator died. My husband took it apart and thawed everything out. Miraculously, it's working fine now. Also, my dryer knob broke off smooth with the dryer control panel so the wiring fell down into the abyss of working dryer parts We took the back off and retrieved the wiring and got all that hooked back properly. Then...my washing machine knob became stripped so I have to push really hard to set it. If I have lotion on my hands, I cannot turn on my washer. Oh..oh...and my dishwasher will not turn on regularly. I have to press start and when it runs about 30 seconds, I have to open the door approximately 3 times then it will begin to run correctly ...most of the time. If I hear water sloshing, I know it's on so I can safely walk away. It does a great job when I finally get it to run. Our home could never be an air brb because no one could actually figure out how to use any of our appliances, lol.
Ug! My dishwasher died today! It needs a professional.
And I do medical billing with my work, so I totally get the fax/check/out of network stuff!
Oh man, apparently the dead appliance virus is going around. I think I must have a particularly bad case of it. First the chest freezer died in October. Then the hot water heater sprung a leak on Thanksgiving weekend and flooded the entire basement. Then they couldn't replace the hot water heater because the old galvanized pipes were in such bad shape - so I had to have all of the pipes replaced (I sorta knew that was coming, but wasn't thrilled to have to do it under duress) - this involved replacing any fixture that tied directly into the old pipes, so the bathtub, shower, laundry room, & outdoor fixtures all had to be replaced. And then the day after we finally got the water back on, I went to cook a nice dinner for CatMan's birthday, and... wait for it... the oven died. I'm not sure what I did to offend the gods of the household appliances & other systems, but clearly, they are not happy with me! First world problems, first world problems, first world problems... I figure if I just keep saying it over and over maybe it won't all feel like such a big deal. 🙂
I'm super confused about your provider not just cutting you a check....the patient refund reverses out any 1099 income to them, so it's all a non-issue, unless Cigna overpaid (processed the claim as in-network by mistake). It's also possible that if the provider deposits the check, they have thereby agreed to be IN-network for your specific claim (with all the in-network write offs), and maybe they don't want to do that? We get out-of-network checks all the time and simply issue a refund to the patient, so your being told you filled something out wrong and have to start over smells fishy to me -- it's Cigna's responsibility to know who it's contracted with and who gets the check based on the contract and/or the claim form. If it were me, I'd call the provider back and request the refund again -- it's way too easy to get sucked into all the insurance nonsense.
My oven stopped working this week. With the help of a YouTube video, a trip to an electric centre in a neighbouring town, and a new part (Cost: R60) it's working again, in less than 24 hours. My husband is my HERO!
Just got the news that the compressor on our ridge is going bad. Replacing it costs as much as a new fridge. So now there is that to save for.
Please let me know if Sonia can make an otter with a purple hat/scarf. I'd love to purchase it for Christmas.
Yes! I just checked and she has purple yarn, but it is light purple. Is that ok? If you need a darker purple, she'd have to buy some, which would put the time frame a little later. Let me know!
Light purple is fine! Thanks!
I read "dead dishwasher" and I thought OH THE INHUMANITY! (I love my dishwasher... I think it saves our marriage daily.)
Hopefully it'll be a quick easy fix! 🙂